My Country: a work in progress at the National Theatre review: a play that tries to make sense of Brexit March 16, 2017 It has been said that our membership of the EU was too complicated a subject for a referendum, and this play – born out of a nationwide listening project – also makes the theatre feel inadequate when it comes to deciphering what the hell happened on 23 June. Each actor is assigned a region – [...]
Seventeen review: An exploration of the quirks of pissed up post-exam youngsters March 16, 2017 Premiered in Australia and reproduced for the Lyric Hammersmith, Matthew Whittet's tale of smalltown British teens getting sozzled after finishing their A-levels is a gentle love-letter to the clumsiness of adolescence, as portrayed by a cast of middle-aged actors. The characters should be immediately familiar, from coming-of-age fiction if not firsthand experience – a prancing [...]
Secret Cinema returns with a belting rendition of Moulin Rouge March 16, 2017 At the end of the 19th century, the Parisian district of Montmartre was a bohemian blend of aristocrats, artists, writers and dancers. Now you can visit the era without having to stray beyond Canning Town. You probably know the premise of Secret Cinema by now – watch a film and experience the world in which [...]
Beauty and the Beast review: This live-action remake loses most of the original’s magic March 16, 2017 The timeless story of a girl who falls in love with her malevolent captor, a ten foot tall talking bear, Beauty and the Beast famously teaches that the man of your dreams is only ever a Stockholm Syndrome away. But while this live-action remake of an animated Disney classic leaves most of the hard lessons [...]
Get Out film review: A brilliant scary movie where casual racism is the unseen terror March 16, 2017 In this Stepford Wives-style horror the unseen terror is casual racism and the insidious force is cultural whitewashing. And while that premise could easily descend into a liberal jumble of earnest back-slapping, Get Out is smart enough to balance its message with a wicked comic streak and some serious horror nous. It follows a young [...]
Michelangelo & Sebastiano review: The National Gallery’s compelling visual investigation of an overlooked artistic partnership March 16, 2017 You probably haven’t heard of Sebastiano del Piombo, the Venetian born artist and contemporary of the Renaissance superstar Michelangelo. Frankly the dynamic, superlative output of Michelangelo blows Sebastiano’s relatively diminutive works out of the water. Thankfully, this show is unconcerned with ‘rediscovering’ a lost master, or using Michelangelo’s name to sex-up a generic Italian Renaissance [...]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre review: Imelda Staunton is sublime in this vicious, heartbreaking drama March 16, 2017 Imelda Staunton is the furiously palpitating heart of this intoxicating – not to mention intoxicated – production of Edward Albee’s brilliant treatise on mid-life alcoholism. Often portrayed as a seductive Mrs Robinson figure, Staunton’s Martha is sexuality’s terrifying sunset, refusing to go gentle into that good night. Her conquest of the young academic Nick is [...]
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Royal Opera House review: a spectacular production that’s a perfect send-off for director Kasper Holten March 16, 2017 Wagner’s great comic drama, Die Meistersinger, premiered in 1868 and has been hugely successful ever since. It portrays the clash of the old and the new, of tradition and progress, of ancient and modern. The Nürnberg choir festival is shaken when a young knight, Walter, comes to the town and falls in love with Eva, [...]
Nier: Automata review: a thrilling, endearing, unhinged sequel to the cult classic from Yoko Taro March 15, 2017 While big-budget western game franchises often stand accused of design-by-focus-group, their Japanese counterparts are still dominated by mercurial auteurs with singular – and often bizarre – visions. Legendary figures such as Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Dark Souls’ Hidetaka Miyazaki, Metal Gear Solid’s Hideo Kojima and Silent Hill’s Keiichiro Toyama are inextricably linked with the blockbuster [...]
Ghost Recon: Wildlands review: Hunt down druglords in this ambitious but flawed open-world shooter March 15, 2017 In Ghost Recon Wildlands, the latest open world game from Ubisoft, you head to Bolivia, here a narco state overrun with junkies and drug lords who’ve corrupted those in power and killed anyone that stood in their way. You traverse and shoot your way across mountains, deserts, woodlands and floodplains as a four-strong team of [...]